Bony Elbows
by Reasons Lost
Summary: Reupload. Done for a prompt on tumblr. Sam and Lara sit side by side, but have opposing dominant hands.


When their elbows bumped for the third time Lara sighed. "Sorry", she said again. The girl beside her just smiled at her and gently heaved her shoulders before her arm went back to moving across their shared desktop. Lara could feel her left wrist beginning to cramp with the effort of writing while keeping her elbow clear of the right handed girl's own.

She took a moment to shake out her wrist and rest her chin on her right palm. Looking around the lecture hall she could see plenty of empty seats, and yet this girl had plopped herself down directly beside Lara without a second thought. Her lips slid between her teeth as she contemplated whether or not it would be rude to move to an empty chair. Their elbows bumped again, and Lara wasn't even writing. "Sorry", she said again.

The other girl turned to look at her sheepishly. She'd done a long, wide stroke with her pencil, and it struck Lara that she wasn't even taking notes on the lecture. The bint was _doodling._ Her teeth pressed together just a bit more tightly around her bottom lip. "Excuse me", she said in her most mannered tone, despite her irk, "can I see what you're drawing, there?" The girl turned to her again, but with a stiffer back and a stretched expression.

"It's, uh, not quite done." Lara felt one of her brows rise in reflex. Her eyes scanned the desk but her view was obscured by the doodler's curled right arm.

"Well, all right", Lara said for lack of anything else and tried to return her focus to the lecture and her notes. Not a second later the other girl was speaking again.

"I can show you after class, though!" she blurted. "If you want." Lara thought the girl was acting strange, but her curiosity had been piqued. She settled more firmly in her seat, having decided that she would not move. Odd as the girl was, she seemed friendly.

"Oh, okay. I was just curious. Can I ask what you're drawing, then?" The girl turned in her chair to face Lara and drummed her fingers across the desktop before answering.

"You, actually", she said and laughed nervously. Lara felt the urge to change seats quickly returning. "But! If you don't like it, I'll buy you coffee?"

"Oh." The pieces were coming together. Despite that she didn't feel as uncomfortable as she had a moment before. She stumbled over her words. "I, uh…"

"Sorry, I'll ju-"

"Tea, I'd rather have tea." The girl's expression went from downcast to upbeat so quickly that Lara almost missed the subtle bob of her head when she smiled.

"Okay, tea."

Lara had a hard time focusing on the rest of the lecture, but she didn't actually mind. She was excited, and a little nervous. Part of her was even skeptical, but all the same she found herself averting her eyes from the girl's drawing while she mostly tuned out the professor's speaking in favour of her own musings and daydreams. Her date had to wake her from them; she was roused back to awareness by a series of fingersnaps on the edge of her vision. "You in there?" She shook her head to clear herself of the daze and answered with a smile.

"Yes, sorry. I was just thinking."

"Happy thoughts, I hope! The drawing's done." The girl had her forearms laid across the pad of paper in front of her, concealing her work for the moment to unveil it. "I hope you like it", she said.

"Even if that means you don't get to take me to tea?" Lara watched the girl shoot a sideways glance to the floor and purse her lips. The expression ended with a shrug and the implacable smile from earlier returned.

"You're right. It's shit. I hope you hate it", she said with an easy tone and lifted the pad. The drawing she'd done was very detailed, and composed of what looked to Lara to be thousands of light and tiny lines that relied on light and shadow to give the impression of an image, and while it wasn't perfect, it was very flattering.

"Sorry, dear. I love it. You're quite talented", Lara said with her chin perched in per palm. The bashful way the girl hung her head to conceal her grin went straight to Lara's stomach and fluttered there. When she looked up she spoke again, carefully.

"I'm glad you like it. But, I guess that means no tea...?" She sounded hopeful, and she actually seemed rather sweet.

"How about I buy you coffee instead?"

"I'd like that. I'm Sam, by the way."

"Lara."


End file.
